A conventional solid-state image pickup device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 59-18679. A semiconductor chip is fixed in a package, and a front opening of the package is covered with a transparent cap member to protect an image pickup surface of the semiconductor chip.
A mount portion is formed on a periphery of the package. The separate cap member is mounted on the mount portion. The resultant solid-state image pickup device inevitably has a large outer diameter along a direction parallel to the image pickup surface. For this reason, when such a device is built into an apparatus such as the insertion portion of an endoscope, which requires a compact or small-diameter arrangement, the insertion portion has a larger diameter, causing physical pain to a patient.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid-state image pickup device, dimensions of which can be reduced along a direction parallel to the image pickup surface, and a method of easily and systematically manufacturing the same.